A seat apparatus mounted to a vehicle will be explained hereinafter as an example. Conventionally, seat apparatuses are known which include a seat cushion on which an operator is seated, a seatback for supporting a back of the operator, and a drive device changing a position of the seat cushion and the seatback between a seating position and a storage position. Known seat apparatuses of this type are disclosed in JP2004-249961A, JP2004-249962A, JP2004-249963A, JP2004-106640A, JP2004-262351, and JP2005-119496A. According to the disclosed seat apparatuses, the seatback is folded forward and is locked in a condition where the seatback and the seat cushion are overlapped with each other. Next, the lock device for fixing the seatback to a floor is unlocked. Then, the overlapped seatback and seat cushion are vertically flipped rearward and are stored in a storage recess portion of a vehicle. With such structure, the seatback is placed at an upper side and the seat cushion is placed at a lower side before a storing operation of the seatback and the seat cushion is performed while the seatback is placed at the lower side and the seat cushion is placed at the upper side after the storing operation is performed because the seatback and the seat cushion are vertically flipped.
A seat apparatus is also known which includes a seatback drive device and a seat cushion drive device. According to this type of seat apparatus, the seatback is folded forward by driving the seatback drive device and is overlapped with the seat cushion. Then, the overlapped seatback and the seat cushion are moved rearward by driving the seat cushion drive device and are stored in the storage recess portion. One of the known seat apparatus of this type is disclosed in JP2004-196163A. According to the disclosed seat apparatus, the seatback and the seat cushion are moved in a condition where the seatback remains at the upper side and the seat cushion remains at the lower side and the seatback and the seat cushion are stored in the storage recess portion. On this occasion, the seatback drive device and the seat cushion drive device are driven at the same time.
With the configuration of the disclosed seat apparatuses, because the seatback and the seat cushion can be stored in the storage recess portion, a vehicle compartment can be used with a larger space and being more convenient for the operator.
According to the seat apparatuses disclosed in JP2004-249961A, JP2004-249962A, JP2004-249963A, JP2004-106640A, JP2004-262351, and JP2005-119496A, when the position of the seat cushion and the seatback are changed from the seating position to the storage position, the seatback is moved into the storage position together with the seat cushion after the seatback is folded forward. Therefore, the seatback can be prevented from interfering with other components. However, an operating time of the seatback and an operating time of the seat cushion are temporally different i.e., the operating time of the seatback and the operating time of the seat cushion are not temporally overlapped. Therefore, an entire operating time of the seatback and the seat cushion may be increased.
Further, according to the seat apparatus disclosed in JP2004-196163A, because the seat cushion and the seatback are simultaneously operated when the position of the seat cushion and the seatback are changed from the seating position to the storage position, the operating time of the seatback and the operating time of the seat cushion are temporally overlapped. Therefore, a time required for operating the seatback and the seat cushion can be reduced. However, unless the vehicle compartment includes a large space, the seatback and seat cushion may easily interfere with the other components such as a wall or a door of the vehicle compartment when the position of the seat cushion and the seatback are changed from the seating position to the storage position or changed from the storage position to the seating position.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a seat apparatus which can reduce the time required for changing the position of the seat cushion and the seatback from the seating position to the storage position and/or from the storage position to the seating position while restricting the interference of the seatback and the seat cushion with the other components such as the wall, the door, or the like.